Tetraplegia is a type of paralysis that involves the loss of all four limbs. This is a catastrophic injury that comes with incredibly high expenses. If you or a loved one has suffered this severe spinal injury, it’s important that you understand the long-term costs you’re facing and your options for recovering compensation.
What Is Tetraplegia?
Tetrapelgia refers to a specific type of spinal injury. The spinal cord is complex. It runs from the skull down the length of the back and protects an intricate system of nerves that extend out to the entire body.
When the spinal cord is badly injured, paralysis is often the result. Usually, everything from the point of the injury and below is paralyzed. Tetraplegia usually occurs as a result of a spinal injury near the neck or upper back. Another commonly used term for this condition is quadriplegia, and medical staff might use either word when discussing injuries and treatment.
What Are Common Causes of Tetraplegia?
Tetraplegia, or paralysis affecting all four limbs, is the result of a spinal cord injury. Spinal trauma is one of the most catastrophic types of injuries a person can experience, and it can be the outcome of nearly any type of accident.
Some of the most common incidents that lead to tetraplegia include:
- Car accidents
- Truck accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Boating accidents
- Swimming pool accidents
- Slip and fall accidents
- Workplace accidents
- Construction site accidents
- Medical malpractice
- Accidents involving dangerous or defective products
Blunt force trauma and falls from heights are two of the most frequently occurring incidents that result in tetraplegia. However, this form of paralysis can happen in many ways, some of which might be unexpected.
For example, infants sometimes suffer severe spinal injuries during the labor and delivery process. Birth injuries like this represent one way that medical negligence can lead to tetraplegia.
What Are the Signs and Symptoms of Tetraplegia?
The most common and immediate sign of tetraplegia after an accident is loss of the ability to move the arms and legs. When a spinal injury is severe and instantaneous, it might be immediately evident that a person has suffered full paralysis. In other cases, tetraplegia is not apparent right away.
The spinal cord is a highly complex part of the body. An injury might leave a person initially able to move or even walk around. Unfortunately, further motion can end up worsening the injury, sometimes in devastating ways.
Signs that indicate someone has suffered a spinal cord injury include:
- Numbness
- Tingling
- Stiffness
- Loss of strength
- Reduced range of motion
- Muscle spasms
- Loss of bladder function
- Difficulty breathing
Whenever someone suffers a fall or an injury to the back or neck, it’s best to remain immobile and wait for emergency responders to provide transportation to a medical facility.
Tetraplegia Diagnosis and Treatment
Diagnosing tetraplegia can be a lengthy process. In the immediate aftermath of a spinal injury, it’s not always easy for doctors to identify your likely long-term outcome. As a result, a patient’s prognosis is often initially uncertain. Doctors will determine the best course of treatment and continually monitor the patient to see how they improve.
During the diagnostic process, the patient may have to undergo:
- Physical exams
- X-rays
- CT scans
- MRIs
- Blood tests
- Neurological tests
- Spinal tap
Initially, tetraplegia treatment tends to involve surgery to help stabilize the site of the spinal injury. The patient may need metal rods or plates inserted into the spine. You’ll likely end up receiving a variety of therapies, such as occupational and physical therapy.
Tetraplegia often has secondary effects on other parts of the body, which may, in turn, require additional methods of treatment. For example, if the spinal injury has affected the vocal cords, speech therapy may be necessary to help restore the patient’s ability to speak.
It’s possible in some cases for a patient to make a full or partial recovery from tetraplegia, but this is a rare medical outcome. In most cases, a tetraplegia diagnosis is permanent.
What Are Common Costs Associated With Tetraplegia?
Tetraplegia is one of the most expensive injuries a person can experience. This type of injury can result in the permanent loss of earning ability, which can have a devastating impact on a family’s finances. Sadly, loss of income doesn’t begin to cover the extent of tetraplegia injury costs.
Emergency treatment, initial hospital stays, and surgery can lead to many thousands of dollars in medical bills. However, these are just the beginning. This type of injury also results in the need for continual attendant care and a variety of very expensive medical devices.
These costs last for the remainder of the injured person’s life. When you’re facing decades of exorbitant care expenses and no ability to earn income, the financial impact alone is devastating. And this doesn’t even touch on the deep mental and emotional effects full-body paralysis can have on both the injured person and their loved ones.
Working with a skilled catastrophic injury lawyer is usually the only way a family can hope to afford the long-term costs of care after a tetraplegia diagnosis.
An attorney can help you recover compensation for past and future injury costs that include:
- Medical bills
- Therapist costs
- Specialist costs
- Medical device costs
- Attendant care costs
- Home renovations for accessibility
- Lost wages and benefits
A lawyer can also help you recover compensation for the emotional impact of tetraplegia.
This can compensate you for losses like:
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional anguish
- Embarrassment and humiliation
- Loss of companionship
- Diminished quality of life
If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with tetraplegia, you need to contact an experienced lawyer. When you’re facing a lifetime of extensive care costs, the right lawyer may be able to help you recover millions.
Our Atlanta Spinal Cord Injury Lawyers Can Help You With a Tetraplegia Claim
Malone Law Medical Malpractice and Severe Injury Lawyers is an Atlanta law firm with a long history of successfully recovering compensation for catastrophic injuries. Spinal injury cases are highly complex, and significant compensation values hang in the balance.
If you need to recover compensation for tetraplegia in the Atlanta area, you can’t afford to hire an inexperienced attorney. Our law firm carries an impressive track record of routinely recovering substantial compensation for our severely injured clients.
Contact our Atlanta catastrophic injury lawyers today to schedule a free consultation at (770) 390-7550 to discuss how we can help with your case.